Did Congressmen Bob Goodlatte know what he was getting into when he accepted the invitation to the "SWAC-Breakfast" this past Saturday at the Golden Corral?...
The "SWAC-Breakfast" is a new political forum that is made up of several local political "activist" and made up primarily of a former Republican committee chairman, a Democrat committee chairman, and others who once were active in local party activities.
As reported by the faithful reporter from the NewsVirginian, Bob Stuart, he described the confrontation between the congressmen and his Republican primary challenger who was waiting for him at the SWAC-breakfast.
"She said that if Goodlatte was for decreased spending, she wanted to know why he voted for an increased debt ceiling and for federal health care as part of an omnibus spending bill. Kwiatkowski then pounded her fist on the table at the Golden Corral and said, “You need to cut spending! You need to cut spending!”
The organizers of the SWAC-Breakfast club have hosted a breakfast forum for the primary challenger, Kwiatkowski, in the past as well as a breakfast forum for the Democrtatic party challenger to Goodlatte as well....
Did the Congressmen walk into a local breakfast gathering to meet and talk with his local constituents or did he walk into a "ambush" set up and hosted by the "SWAC-Gang"?...
By: Bob Stuart | News Virginian Published: April 29, 2012
Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s talk before the SWAC Political Breakfast on Saturday morning briefly turned into an impromptu discussion with his opponent in the June Republican primary, Karen Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski questioned the fiscal conservatism of the congressman, whose 6th District includes much of the Shenandoah Valley.
She said that if Goodlatte was for decreased spending, she wanted to know why he voted for an increased debt ceiling and for federal health care as part of an omnibus spending bill. Kwiatkowski then pounded her fist on the table at the Golden Corral and said, “You need to cut spending! You need to cut spending!”
Goodlatte, who introduced a balanced budget constitutional amendment last year that failed to pass the House, responded by saying that if “you balance the budget in one year, you never have to borrow more money. Each year the budget is not balanced, you will need to ask for more resources.”
When asked by another questioner why he would not debate Kwiatkowski, Goodlatte said he has chosen to conduct his re-election campaign by “reaching out to my constituents like today. I expect my opponents will do the same.”
Kwiatkowski said the lawmaker and his office have refused to honor debate requests. She described the incumbent as “weak and hypocritical.”
Goodlatte said he is running on his record of 20 years, and believes that if Republican Mitt Romney is elected president in November and the U.S. Senate becomes a majority Republican body, federal spending will be cut. For much of his talk Saturday, Goodlatte detailed what he described as the excesses of the Obama administration. He described the administration as the “worst in our nation’s history.” Goodlatte said that he considered then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama as the “most liberal and inexperienced person” ever to run for president when the Democrat campaigned four years ago, and that his hypothesis has proved true.
Goodlatte said that he is cautiously optimistic that the Supreme Court will overturn federal health-care reform legislation. He said Obama has done an “abysmal job on the economy, regulating sector after sector.” The overreach by Obama is at its worst on executive mandates regarding the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency, the congressman said. Goodlatte said the EPA’s imposing of mandates onChesapeake Baywatershed states is wrong. “The federal government has the authority to set standards, but the states have the right to implement them,” he said. He said the EPA has failed to provide a cost-benefit analysis of what it is asking states to do with nutrient-pollution reduction in the bay.
One member of the audience, military veteran Andrea Jackson, wondered aloud why those in Congress are unable to work together in a more bipartisan way. She said she wished the “bickering” would stop inWashington.
Goodlatte pointed to a list of bills passed by the House and stalled in the Senate. “We would love to sit down with the Senate and work out our differences,” he said in response toJackson. Goodlatte called Saturday’s breakfast a good discussion of the issues, and then he left to attend a full day of activities in his district.
